Improvement in weather-strips



J. F. ROWLETT. Weather Strip.

No. 197,056. Patented Nov. 8,1877.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

JOSEPH F. ROWLETT, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO CAROLINE N. ROWLETT AND HANNAH A. ROWLETI, OF SAME PLACE.

lM PROVEMENT IN WEATHER-STRIPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,056, dated November 13, 1877; application filed August 21, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH F. RowLETT, of Richmond, Wayne county, State of Indiana, have invented an Improvement in Automatic Draft-Guard for Doors, of which the following is a specification:

My invention belongs to the class of weatherstrip devices for doors in which a hinged metallic strip is secured at the bottom of the door and forced against the carpet or floor by impinging against an inclined plane on the door-jamb in the act of closing, the door; and the object of my improvement is to give to the hinged plate and its operating devices such construction as, in the first place, to enable the entire attachment to be sold at any hardware-store, and applied conveniently, without the aid of a skilled workman, by any purchaser; and, in the second place, to so simplify the parts as to provide for sale at the very low rates apparently necessary for the introduction of such devices.

My invention consists in the employment of a coiled spring inserted in a bored hole in the bottom of the door and connected to the metallic plate (for the purpose of retracting it when the door is open) by a return wire crossing at the bend over the upper end of the spring, and having its lower ends bent under the plate, the whole forming a simple and very effective connection.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a door and jamb embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a section through the bottom of the door and hinged plate, at the point where the spring is located. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the door-jamb, showing the incline-plane plate against which the .hinged plate impinges, for the purpose of making the hinged plate close the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.

' Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the under side may pass uninterruptedly from one room to another. This leaves a space between the floor and bottom of the door for the reception and operation of the hinged plate, and, when attached, it operates, like others of this class, to enable the door to swing without contact of any of its parts with the carpet, except when it is in the closed position, at which point the plate is forced onto the carpet to prevent drafts.

C is the plate or weather strip. I perforate it at two places, 0 c, as shown, near one edge, and insert into the bottom of the door the two little staples, D, one prong of each being linked through the perforations of the plate, so as to make a hinge without any attachment being made to the plate, as would be necessary with regular hinges.

E is the incline plane, under which the plate C strikes, and by which said plate is forced down to the carpet. In place of cutting this incline plane in the jamb of the door, I attach it by a plate, E, and wood-screws, and the plate may, therefore, be adjusted in attachment so as to make the plate C press on the carpet with any degree of pressure. Iretract the plate C by a coiled spring, F, and this I insert in a bored hole in the bottom of the door, the hole being preferably lined by a tin tube, G.

To keep the spring in place, I attach a small plate, H, to the bottom of the door, and the top of the spring is bent across, and has a bent wire, I, suspended from it, in the manner shown, whose two shanks pass through the spring F and plate C, and are bent at the ends in opposite directions, as shown, to retain plate C in the proper relation to the spring.

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with the swinging plate C, the coiled spring F and connecting-wire I, the latter being passed over the spring and bent under the plate C, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH F. ROWLETT. Witnesses:

OLIVER B. RowLE'rT, ALFRED H. HUBBARD. 

